2018 Porsche 911 Carrera T 991.2 (500HP) Review - Tuner Car for Adults!

With headers, a Litchfield tune, and a DSC Sport V3.1 Controller, is this 500HP 991.2 Carrera T the ultimate everyday 911?
See how I rank these cars in my Zygrene Performance Index: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
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[@devtec6881]

Hi Fenton, thank you for reviewing my car! Great fun to hang out with you, see you pushing the car, and to have it memorialized on KZbin! Getting this car has been a long-time dream fulfilled. I was lucky enough to find it used right before the pandemic caused prices to shoot up, greatly increasing the value proposition of this car. With buying a T used and a few easy mods, you get a 911 with a compelling ethos: something in between / approaching a GT3 Touring (in rawness/lightness) and a Turbo (in power and delivery), _but at less than half the price._ 🤯 Some might say blasphemy, others might say man are we lucky to even have the option. For those curious, I was inspired to get the T from the Litchfield reviews up on KZbin (see links below). I do love the tune, and especially the Vektor headers on the car, which without question increased throttle response and decreased turbo spooling time, making it feel closer to NA but with the incredible torque. Best of both worlds. I do cringe at the crackles and pops, but believe it or not, the tune did greatly reduce them (also not sure if Fenton was in Sport mode or Sport Plus, which reduces them even more). Other highlights for me have been the Numeric short shifter which nears the S2000 in bliss, the DSC Sport which significantly improves compliance, and the Antigravity lithium battery which saved another 35lbs. I did try a used Akrapovic exhaust, and high flow cats, but both were a bit too loud and droney (at 2500rpm) for me. The engine/exhaust was dismayingly quiet though when stock, so Vektor definitely Goldilocks. Another quirk of the car has been the amount of rattles, but with a little obsessive use of felt tape, those have been readily solved. I do wish my T had RAS… ah well. Being lucky enough to have this T as my daily driver, who can complain.🙂 Agree with your conclusions, Fenton (both positive and negative). Hate that parking brake. In current form the car is an effortless machine, if perhaps slightly clinical. But can’t help being blown away with appreciation for its sheer competence. Many thanks to you again, and to all of you for the comments!

[@devtec6881]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2ivi2anh6qSobc

[@devtec6881]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZDPoa2gfN2mn7s

[@kbaez]

Great video and car! Any idea what power output would be if you swap in GTS turbos? I have seen 2 vids doing that swap and they swear the T's deserve to be at that power level. lol

[@fastdays_1]

@@kbaez swapping GTS turbos will bring you to 600+

[@Alfa_Addict]

Excellent channel and some great cars on display and tested. I'm sure this channel will become huge!

[@apolloandratti7922]

Having watched his last Cayman 4.0 video, I am deducing that Fenton's 2 top favorite modern Porsches are in this order: GT3 --> 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 w/ 3 pedals. The 981GTS/718 GTS Cayman/Boxsters seem to be the best non-GT Porsche driving experience at any price right now.

[@yaminoyume610]

quality content as always, keep it up

[@chaseespinoza4288]

Great review. The 991.2T was destined to swap hands amongst enthusiasts. My favorite of the non-GT 991 and 992 iterations. The values have been comparable to GTS variants, which is cool to see!

[@BrainFuck10]

The best non-GT 991 is the 991.1 50th Anniversary Edition but good luck finding one.

[@Soh90]

Great review as always. I need to get you in my BMW Z3 3.0i. I always felt like my car was/is a grown up NA Miata

[@keithjackson4985]

Good review man. Enjoyed that.

[@Birmingham_racing]

That's the beauty of modern turbo cars the gains you get soo easily from tuning

[@TurninTrackOut]

I very nearly got a 992 Carrera T...definitely a lot of potential. Great review.

[@hamidakintomide5644]

Bro I was wondering if you could make a car history vid to tell us a bit more about where you started from regarding cars/all time favourite cars

[@Zygrene]

Tabling this for a future podcast!

[@mr2death]

I would tune in to that as well.

[@xxhitman47xx]

2moons mmorpg

[@brycecampbell4845]

What exactly does the $10,400 above the base model buy you in the T ? I've looked and cannot seem to find any significant differences..?

[@eric.frasch]

I wish he put an exhaust on it. It really helps with the sound. I love the T. It’s the first “light weight” Porsche that has rear seats for my kids. I can put roof racks on it. I just bought one 2 months ago, replacing my 981 GTS.

[@devtec6881]

Thanks Eric! What exhaust do you have? I tried the Akrapovic, but found myself too sensitive to slight drone from 2k-3k.

[@joeracer302]

Every exhaust I’ve heard in person on these sounds louder but worse tone than factory. Let me know if you find something that doesn’t make it sound like a dump truck. The stock muffler has no drone and the tone is non-offensive at least.

[@eric.frasch]

My Sharkwerks exhaust doesn’t drone. I’m really happy I did it.

[@jmacie3]

Soul cats were enough for me

[@MitchelWuToyPhotography]

Great review, beautiful car. How did you like the Numeric short shifter and pedals? I ordered the exact same for my 981 CGTS - just waiting for them to come in.

[@GlennsCarCollection]

Great video, love your channel. NSX, 911, S2000, R8 V10 owner here (all with manual transmissions) Carrera T only saves 44 lbs if you delete the back seat. If you keep the back seat, its only 11 lbs of weight savings. I cross shopped a Carrera T and a Base 2017 Carrera. I bought the base Carrera because it was a manual and my favorite color, Miami Blue. I didn’t notice the weight savings driving them back to back.

[@devtec6881]

Agree the weight savings is kind of bogus, nominal at best! One thing you do get in the T though vs. a base is the LSD, which may be important if you track the car.

[@Jeremyyy412]

I'll have a Ruby Star Neo 992 Carrera T in a couple months as the waitlist for S and GTS is years out. You take what you can in this market. NA is definitely more sensational, so an air-cooled flat six in on the horizon.

[@mikej1348]

I would love to see a review of Cayman T too. It seems to get overlooked because of its motor but perhaps it’s a good value Porsche?

[@parkman8595]

Glad you were able to get behind the wheel of a T! Still hoping one day you'll get to drive mine. It has a couple different options, RAS, PCCBs, and no sunroof which would lower the center of gravity a little bit. It's also completely stock, although I have really contemplated getting the DSC controller. But I'm pretty happy with the stock suspension, even with the extra grip of Cup 2s. Also with -1.5 degrees of camber front & rear, as long as I trail brake properly, car feels very neutral. I tend to run out of rear grip about as often as I run out of front. Not sure how the Litchfield tune alters the engine modes, but with stock mapping, throttle response is significantly more linear and NA-like in Sport Plus than Sport. I would say it's about 80% of the experience of an NA motor, and more linear and responsive than my FK8 Type R. Sometimes I think about getting a tune as well, at least maybe equal length headers to further improve response and sound but I love being able to ring out all 370hp so often. Regardless, Dave's T is a lovely daily sports car with some tasteful mods. Thanks for the review Fenton! 👍

[@devtec6881]

Thanks very much, Parkman! Agree with all your comments. When you are done enjoying the car in stock form, you might want to try the following sequence: Vektor header next, as it improves the sound of the car so much (introduces a more NA-like howl, especially on throttle lift, and decreases lag and increases linearity, not to even mention the increases in power). You’ll love wringing out the engine even more. If you ever want to go up in power from there, you can then consider the tune. I recently took off the DSC Sport while trying to troubleshoot something unrelated. When I put it back on, immediately noticed how much softer and compliant the car was for daily driving, but firms up nicely when pushed. Enjoy your T!

[@parkman8595]

@@devtec6881 Thanks for the feedback! Oh man, those all sound like the type of improvements I would really enjoy. I used to have a 981S, and that's one thing I miss, a bit of that howl. I've *got* to try the DSC controller. Especially with how plug and play it is. Yep, time to start saving. 😁 Likewise, enjoy and be safe out there brother!

[@tombrown6329]

I had one of these! Mine was a '19. I agree with Zygrene, It's "impressive". However, I found mine to be not that much fun, so I traded it for an '18 Cayman GTS....a 4 cylinder!!! (Oh, and I got a check from the dealer too.) Cayman's WAY more fun....probably not as fast. Who cares? I miss the seats on the T (Mine were silver stripes, not yellow). I miss that 3.0TT 6 cyl...but I don't miss the car. Weird huh?

[@mullner88]

In fully stock form these are pretty boring cars but with these add-ons I bet it was far from bland. Thanks for the review!

[@IS300Spartan]

A cool comparison would be this tuned T VS an actual Turbo model. Poor man’s turbo vs the real thing, who wins?

[@IS300Spartan]

You’ve spoiled me with your fast driving dude. I watch other review channels and I get bored with their pace now 😂 Half the fun is watching you ATTACK that road and try to get some oversteer once in a while. Cool owners for letting you do that! I’d LOVE to watch you beat on my IS if I wasn’t in Canada 🤷🏻‍♂️ I feel like even One Takes have gotten slow these days… thank you for keeping the driving interesting.

[@devtec6881]

I was giddy as a school girl watching him push my car.

[@rsstnnr76]

How much does a tune like this cost? And does a tune put unnecessary wear and tear on all of the other components?

[@SonoCars]

Thank you for doing this video, been wondering if these are worth it. If you had to choose between this and the m5 comp - I know 2 different cars - what would you choose?

[@Zygrene]

I've never driven an M5 of any gen! Except a 10 min test drive of a high mileage E39 years ago

[@joeracer302]

The tuner publishes numbers for 93 octane at 500 hp, the 91 in CA you maybe get 450hp. I’m a big fan of the Softronic tune I have on mine, but I don’t have anything to compare with.

[@devtec6881]

Good point! I haven’t dynoed the car, so who really knows. Iain Litchfield’s car gets north of 600hp with similar mods (but upgraded turbos), so Iain figured somewhere in 500hp/500tq range for my car… But who really cares, we have plenty of power with these tunes!! Glad you are enjoying your softronic!

[@joeracer302]

@@devtec6881 I’ve considered using something like Boostane to up the octane rating of the 91 to around 98’ish, would take about $5/tank, but for how much we pay for a tank of premium here that is not really that much extra sadly lol. I’m curious what the 3.0T with the tiny base turbos puts out at 98 octane, I bet well north of 500. It’s absolutely mind boggling how much power these engines and drivetrains can take while still remaining reliable, and with the smallest damn turbos I’ve ever seen lol. They make insane power with even marginally larger turbos.

[@Datsun510zen]

Seems that because the 718 Cayman is mid engine, it's apples to oranges in terms of a handling comparison. Would you say the 991 Carrera T has that "911y feel to it" simply because it's rear engine, or have the GT2 and 3 managed to overcome it? I think the greatest difference in older turbo 911s and this 2018 991 T is advancements in modern small frame turbo design. Modern turbos are way more efficient, where a smaller, faster spooling turbo can make more boost overall than ever before. For instance, as you recall, the GT3071on my SR20 had a "hallerious amount of lag". Fun in a straight line, but terrifying around corners. With the GTX 2867R we have now, makes boost at 2,500 rpm, the power curve is linear, and it's far more manageable with an additional 80hp. Truly night and day difference in confidence pushing it harder through corners, finding the outer limits of tire grip, and living to tell the tale.

[@Zygrene]

The 991.1 and 991.2 GT3's I drove had less of a "911-y" feel than this Carrera T. Probably comes down to front suspension geometry, alignment, tires, and rear wheel steering.

[@Datsun510zen]

@@Zygrene That makes sense. Thanks

[@chaseespinoza4288]

Fenton, did this car have RAS? I’ve read that makes a big difference in reducing understeer.

[@Zygrene]

I don't believe this example had rear steer. Curious how much of a difference that would've made.

[@crazygerman88]

@@Zygrene RAS would make a big difference in my experience

[@dsher503]

I think a tuner car for slightly more mature adults would be about 80 less HP and no crackles on every shift lol! The T is a really cool trim however. Thanks for doing the review.

[@Zygrene]

Mature-ish adults-ish

[@dsher503]

@@Zygrene Lol. Can't wait for the 992 Tish. Should be perfect.

[@devtec6881]

Proudly mature-ish. 🤣

[@joeracer302]

Just put the car in Sport+ mode and it doesn’t pop/crackle.

[@Abdul_Rahman_QAT]

I think it would make more sense, if they used the GT4 engine for this car

[@Zygrene]

That would just be naughty

[@volodymyrshoniia2424]

But is it worth 2x M2 money? 🤔

[@michaelelderkin2114]

Owning a T myself with a FVD tune, how does a tune plus headers deliver 500 hp and ft-lbs?

[@devtec6881]

Not sure if it’s an accurate number at all, Michael, since the car isn’t dynoed. 🤷‍♂️ But please take a look at the Litchfield Carrera T review videos for more info (600+ on Iain’s car [but with upgraded turbos], and 520 just with tune and Akrapovic on the SeenThroughGlass video [go to 9:30]). Yes, numbers higher on UK 93. Enjoy the T! ✊🏽

[@hasonlavajunk9774]

How will he pass California smog test when it comes up in a couple years?

[@devtec6881]

Every 8 years. Yep, may have to swap out headers.

[@hamidakintomide5644]

First!

[@christianherrero8053]

Rich adults *

[@thetruthspeaker1978]

With an APR GTS kit it's the cheapest GT2 you can get..lol

[@killuificould]

I’ve never liked the burbles

[@billshoe22191]

Crazy performance, but sounds like a vaccum. Wouldn't pay $100k for it